Our Canadian Winter Escape to Grey County

This is our first winter in Canada and we’re all about embracing the cold and finding the magic! Just 2.5 hours away from Toronto you’ll find a place that’s absolutely jam packed with winter magic – Grey County. There’s everything your winter heart desires – delicious meals, winter sports and relaxing spas. If you’re wanting to see our food recommendations, you can find them here. We were lucky to enough to spend three days exploring the area, and these are our top recommendations for Grey County:

Head to Blue Mountain and hit the slopes!

We love skiing, so this was super high on our list! Blue Mountain is really close to Toronto and the slopes aren’t too busy midweek. Everything is streamlined and we never had to queue up very long for a chair lift. If you stay in the Blue Mountain Village you can easily walk to the trails – and there’s 43 to choose from! Ranging from beginner to advanced, there’s a slope for everyone. We mainly stuck to the easier ones (only Jeremy’s 3rd time skiing!) but next time we’ll definitely step it up a notch. It’s so convenient having a ski field this close to a big city!

Discover frozen waterfalls in a winter wonderland

There are seven icy waterfalls to visit in Grey County. SEVEN! We only managed to tick off two, but it just gives us an excuse to come back. Hoggs Falls was our first stop – and they look so majestic completely surrounded by snow and ice. There’s also a rope you can use to climb down to the base of the waterfall if you’re up for it – the view is awesome! The other waterfall we visited, Inglis Falls, was almost completely frozen over. It’s pretty epic, and while there’s not much of a walk you can do (…way too slippery in winter), the view alone makes the trip worth it.

Try ice skating on a mountaintop trail

We’ve been embracing all things Canadian and what’s more Canadian than ice skating? Everyone seems to have their own skates here, and now we do too! Jeremy picked up a pair from Value Village for $9 – can you believe that?! Lucky for us, Blue Mountain just opened a brand new skate trail – the perfect excuse to get our skates out. How often do you get the chance to skate on top of a mountain (all the views!) through a snowy tree lined trail?

Take a moment to thaw and relax at the Scandinave Spa

One of the major highlights of our entire Grey County trip was definitely the Scandinave Spa. The moment you step onto the property there are sounds of nature and music playing…it completely transports you to another world. There’s also a strict ‘no phone’ and ‘silence’ policy in the bathing area – relaxing is the name of the game!

As you can tell, it’s a Scandinavian styled bathing experience – meaning it’s much more than just another hot pool. There are three stages in the experience: body warming, refreshing rinse and relaxation. To warm up, you either hop in a sauna, steam room or hot bath…and get mentally prepared for the refreshing rinse. There may be a ‘silence’ policy, but a few squeals of horror may have escaped our lips while getting into the 13 degree plunge pool. We can’t explain HOW GOOD it makes your body feel though, helping your circulation and getting rid of toxins. The relaxation part of the cycle is exactly what it sounds like – it regulates your body temperature after the hot and cold. Rinse and repeat!

Don’t be afraid to try something new – like fat biking through the snow

If you’ve been following our adventures for a while now, you know that our motto is to say ‘yes’. Yes to things that scare us, to push us out of our comfort zone and to always try new things. One thing we hadn’t tried before? Fat Biking! Ride Guides took us on a fat bike adventure – it’s basically mountain biking modified for the snowy Grey County. We got off to a wobbly start as we tried to get the hang of balancing and riding through the snow. It’s not for the faint of heart if you’re a bit unfit (cough. Rachel. cough.) and we can safely say Rachel fell off about 5000 times. It’s snow…so it’s soft! But the views were gorgeous, and it was definitely a unique way to see the area. And the best part of it all? Sailing down the hill (like professionals) at the end.

Snowshoe your way through different trails

Going along with the theme of trying new things and embracing the Canadian winter, we headed to Scenic Caves and got kitted up with some snowshoes…. which are basically giant paddles strapped to your shoes. Not exactly fashionable, but they allow you to walk through the snowy terrain easily, which is pretty nifty. The Scenic Caves trails are…you guessed it…pretty scenic! Our favourite parts were the lookout (where we spotted a little critter in a tree) and the suspension bridge.

Have some comfort food after all the exercise

The newest addition to the Blue Mountain Village is the Northwinds Brewhouse. What’s more perfect than grabbing a bite and a flight of beers to unwind after all the winter activities? If you head to this perfect apres ski location – you HAVE to get the beer pretzels. No regrets. For more places to eat in Grey County, check out this list.

Stay in the heart of the Blue Mountain Village

We stayed at The Grand Georgian, right in the heart of the Blue Mountain Village. It is the cutest area to stay in – filled to the brim with shops, restaurants and literally steps away from the mountain. We were able to relax in the hotel’s hot pool while watching the mountain come alive with sparkly lights and night skiers! If you want the full Blue Mountain experience, this is the place to stay.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure through Grey County – it really is the perfect winter escape. We’d love to go back and visit once the autumn colours arrive – can only imagine how gorgeous that will be! A huge thank you to Amanda for arranging our trip through Visit Grey Tourism – and as always, our opinions are 100% our own.